Stephen Volk's painting, in the Governor's Reception Room at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul, depicts Lt. Col. Judson W. Bishop leading his Second Minnesota Regiment in their famous assault on Missionary Ridge, November 25, 1863.

On Wednesday afternoon, November 25, 1863, the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment participated in one of the most dramatic assaults of the Civil War. They were fighting the Battle of Missionary Ridge, one of several important battles they had been involved in throughout their two years of service in the Union Army. This battle would prove to be the most significant in the history of the regiment.

Patriotism in Minnesota ran high when the Civil War began in the spring of 1861. More men answered the call to arms than the young state needed. These extra men didn't have long to wait. The call for additional troops came in June 1861, and by August the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry mustered into federal service. The first six companies garrisoned forts throughout the state while the remainder of the regiment assembled and trained at Fort Snelling. By early October the entire regiment gathered at Fort Snelling and prepared for the war.

On October 14 enthusiastic crowds gathered as Colonel H. P. Van Cleve paraded his Second Minnesota through the streets of St. Paul. Then the regiment departed for Louisville, Kentucky, where the men became part of the Army of the Ohio.

The regiment's first test of battle came on January 19, 1862, at the battle of Mill Springs (Logan's Crossroads), Kentucky. During the conflict, the Second took position against a rail fence as a Confederate line approached through the fog and mist. The Minnesotans didn't see the enemy troops lying even closer, on the ground just on the opposite side of the fence. Hand-to-hand fighting resulted, with the Second gaining the upper hand. Their fight at the fence was part of the first major Union victory in the West.

For the next eighteen months, the Second campaigned mainly in the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. The regiment played a minor role at the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky on October 8, 1862. In November the men joined the Union Army of the Cumberland.

By the late summer of 1863, the campaign to control Chattanooga and eastern Tennessee resulted in some of the war's heaviest fighting. On September 19-20 the Second Minnesota clashed with Gen. Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee at the Battle of Chickamauga in northern Georgia. On the second day of the battle, a federal tactical error led to a Confederate breakthrough which swept half the Union army from the field. The Second Minnesota and their comrades took up a defensive position to delay the Confederates. From mid-afternoon until dusk they held their position in the face of repeated attacks. This brave defense earned their corps commander, Maj. Gen. George H. Thomas, the nickname "Rock of Chickamauga." The battle was a Confederate victory.

The federals retreated to Chattanooga, and Bragg's army took position on the heights surrounding the town, including Lookout Mountain southwest of the city and Missionary Ridge to the east. In mid-October Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker came west with a detachment of the Union Army of the Potomac. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant arrived to assume overall command of the Union forces. He gave Gen. Thomas command of the Army of the Cumberland. In mid-November Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman arrived with his Union Army of the Tennessee.

On November 24, 1863, Hooker's soldiers attacked and defeated the Confederates on Lookout Mountain. The next day, the federals advanced on the main Confederate line on Missionary Ridge. Gen. Grant gave the Army of the Cumberland a passive role in the center while Hooker's and Sherman's troops prepared to do all the real fighting on the flanks. These attacks stalled, and Thomas's men were ordered to assault the first line of Confederate works. The Second Minnesota led their brigade in capturing this position. Soon afterward, Gen. Grant watched in amazement as the entire Army of the Cumberland, without orders, assaulted the main Rebel line atop the ridge. A stunning Union victory resulted. The Minnesotans captured two cannon at the climax of the assault.

In 1864 the Second Minnesota took part in the Atlanta Campaign and marched with Sherman to the sea. At the end of the war the Second returned to Minnesota and was discharged on July 20, 1865. They had earned their place in history at Chickamauga and in the storming of Missionary Ridge.

United States War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 70 vols. in 128 parts. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1880–1901. Reprint: Harrisburg: National Historical Society, 1971. (Series 1, vols. 7, 30 and 31.)http://archive.org/details/warrebellionaco17offigoog

A/.S533
Eliza Shattuck Correspondence, 1850–1890
Manuscripts Notebooks Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Description: Collection includes a letter from Rueben Lanphear to his daughter, Eliza Shattuck, in which Rueben recounts the death of Eliza's brother George, who was killed at the Battle of Missionary Ridge as a member of Co. K, Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry.

M561
Jeremiah C. Donahower Papers, 1853–1919
Manuscripts Microfilm Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.
Description: Donahower served as captain of Co. E, Second Minnesota. The collection includes a three-volume manuscript providing extensive detail into the Second's service, as well as some turn-of-the-twentieth-century photos of the battlefields and monuments of Chickamauga and Chattanooga.

Judson Wade Bishop and Family Papers, 1819–1973, bulk 1855–1917
Manuscripts Collection, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul.http://www.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00875.xml
Description: Includes accounts of Bishop's service as an officer with the Second Minnesota, his involvement in establishing Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, and veterans' reunions.

Turning Point

On November 25, 1863, the Second Minnesota plays a prominent role in the attack on Missionary Ridge outside Chattanooga, TN. This charge is a rare example of Union soldiers successfully storming a prepared Confederate defensive position and results in a brilliant Northern victory.

Chronology

June-August 1861

The companies of the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Regiment are mustered into federal service at Fort Snelling.

October 1861

The Second Minnesota departs for the seat of war.

January 19, 1862

At the Battle of Mill Springs (Logan's Crossroads), Kentucky, the regiment's baptism of fire, the Minnesotans engage in hand-to-hand fighting.

April 9, 1862

The men of the Second arrive on the Shiloh battlefield in Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, two days after the battle is over. They assist with the care of the wounded and the burial of the dead.

October 8, 1862

The Second Minnesota plays a minor role in the Battle of Perryville, Kentucky.

September 20, 1863

On the second day of the Battle of Chickamauga, second only to Gettysburg in the number of casualties produced, the Minnesotans stand firm and repulse several Confederate attacks, allowing the Union army to retreat from the field.

November 25, 1863

The Second Minnesota leads its brigade in taking the first line of Confederate works at the Battle of Missionary Ridge, then storms the main enemy defensive works atop the ridge in one of the most spectacular assaults of the entire war.

May-September 1864

The regiment takes part in the Atlanta Campaign.

November-December 1864

Gen. William T. Sherman's army, including the Second Minnesota, cuts a swath of destruction sixty miles wide and 250 miles long from Atlanta to Savannah in the famous March to the Sea.

May 24, 1865

With the war over, the Second Minnesota joins 65,000 comrades in Sherman's Grand Review march in Washington.

July 15, 1865

The regiment returns to St. Paul.

July 20, 1865

The officers and men of the Second Minnesota Infantry muster for pay for the last time and are discharged from the army.